Story+1988-04-15+Austin,+TX

´´Texas weather makes it feel like spring down there....oh yeah....how´s everybody in Austin been ? (cheers) man, you get this kind of weather back north.....and uh....the girls leave all their winter clothes home....everybody´s out walking instead of driving around ....people getting in their cars putting their tops down, you know....when we get weather like this I like to, you know, spring comes around, I like to get out, take a little walk in the park, see if any of my old friends are around, you know....nice day, hear them birds singing....hey, hey man, yo, how you doing ? alright (chuckles) how you been ? ain´t seen you, ain´t seen you in a while, what you been doing ?....you never call me up (chuckles) what´ve you been up to ? yeah, oh, oh, here come the baby pictures.....there´s a little Big Man running around out there (chuckles)....he´s got a little saxophone, little shades (chuckles) he´s what ? he´s three years old, he´s almost as big as me already (chuckles) a lot of little babies running around....in about another 15 years there´s gonna be an E Street Band Volume 2....yeah....oh yes, man....remember we used to sit, we used to sit on this bench in, uh, 1975 ? you know....we only had, see there was this big office building down on the corner and like when the weather would get nice, me and Clarence would come down and we´d bring like a, uh, you know, a paper bag with some sandwiches in it and a couple of beers and uh....in little paper bags, you know....and we´d set ´em here and we´d wait, wait for the girls to, right around 4.30 they´d get out of work and they´d come out of that building and come walking right down this street.....and we used to sit here and.... they used to come out like right about, you know, right about now....see if they still come ....check, uh, here they come, check, uh, check this one in the red dress....the one in the red, the one in the red dress....(chuckles) I won´t embarrass you, alright (chuckles) oh, man, I remember I was with you, I was with you the night that you met your wife....we were overseas and Clarence, every time he met girl, he´d come knocking on my hotelroom door, I was his, uh....I was his Dr.Ruth or something, I don´t know (chuckles) he´d come knocking and say ´Bruce, I´m in love, I´m in love´, you know, and that wasn´t unusual, Clarence always falling in love....he said ´Bruce, I met the girl I´m gonna marry´, now, that wasn´t unusual either, Clarence always meeting a girl he´s gonna marry (chuckles) but then you got married (?) that was it, you know, remember when she first came walking in that room ?....what it feels like....the first time you see her and she´s looking so good and you´re trying to look sharp, you know....well, back in New Jersey, it feels kind of like this, come on, Richie (Miami Horns start singing)....oh yeah, man.....you know what I mean....yeah, me too....but now, man, now I gotta like, remember we used to stay out till 4 a.m and stuff ? I gotta be home like 6.30, like right on time for dinner, I do, and then I gotta be in bed by 11.30....but I get to watch The Honeymooners for a half-hour and then out go the lights, that´s when she goes to bed, I´ll see you later, alright (?)...”
 * 15.04.88 Austin, TX, intro to ´All That Heaven Will Allow´**

´´How you doing out there tonight, alright ? (cheers) that´s good, how are you guys in the rearview mirror ? (cheers) that´s good....there was this fella and this girl....and they met in a little small town bar....and they started going out and....and uh, she really liked him, he was, I guess he was the kind of guy that....he was kind of sweet tempered....and telling, you know, telling jokes all the time (chuckles) and uh, they fell in love....and they planned to be married, she got pregnant....and uh....something happened, maybe he was too young and he got scared.....and he went away....but inside her mind he never really left....she held on to him and held on to him for so long....and she kept him in her heart for so long ....that it was like an old dream that is never gonna come true....that the world just gets to break your heart over and over again with....so this is a song about....putting away the past....about putting....putting those old things behind you....and uh, it´s about a woman trying to understand the value of her own individual existence.....and the value of the life of her child....it seems that no matter where we go, the value of our own lives is something that always slips in and out on us....and so this is about a woman struggling to put her old dreams away and to find something new and beautiful and meaningful in her life...."
 * 15.04.88 Austin, TX, intro to ´Spare Parts´**

´´This song is, uh, dedicated to that great American pastime....no, not that one, that´s the old one....talking about shopping....you got that Home Shopping Network down here ?.... you don´t have that down here ? you do have that down here....they´re killing us in New Jersey with that thing....I hate that goddamn thing....”
 * 15.04.88 Austin, TX, intro to ´You Can Look´**

´´Is there anybody alive out there tonight ? (cheers) is there anybody with the living, breathing spirit out there tonight ? (cheers)....that´s good....because I´ve got a question ....what I want to know are there brave, courageous Texas men out there tonight ? (cheers) do we have any of those macho Texas men out there tonight ? (cheers)....because I've seen men that would swim rivers, they´d climb mountains and they´d wrestle with the beasts of the jungle but there was one thing that they was afraid of ....one thing scared ´em to death and I´m gonna tell you what that one thing was....I´m talking about L-U-V, I'm talking about love....love scared ´em to death, made ´em run home to their mommies like little boys....now are there any sweet, brave, heroic Texas women out there tonight ? (cheers) are there any courageous, macho, sexy women out there tonight, that´s what I wanna know (cheers)....because, girls, I'm talking to you too....I´ve known women that would jump out of an airplane at 30,000 feet, that would canoe down the Amazon River wrestlig with alligators and crawling king snakes....I´ve known women that would date the horn section in this band but there was one thing that they was afraid of, they was afraid of love.....love scared ´em....now, I'm down here tonight because I´ve got a confession I want to make, I have to testify to something....what I wanna say is I have sinned !....and I don´t need no Jim Baker, I don´t need no Pat Robertson, I don´t need no Jimmy Swaggert to forgive me....them boys can kiss my ass, baby....and that Jerry Falwell, he can kiss my ass twice....I don´t care who you bring down here, I´ll take ´em on because I´m not afraid of earthly things....but what I´ve got to testify to tonight is....I´m a brave man bu.....I'm a coward .....when it comes to love...."
 * 15.04.88 Austin, TX, intro to ´I´m a Coward´**

´´They had this TV-movie on a couple weeks ago with Kirk Douglas....it´s where they put that guy on trial for, uh....for teaching evolution....it went, it went something like this, it´s hard to believe....”
 * 15.04.88 Austin, TX, intro to ´Part Man Part Monkey´**

´´Thanks, thank you....this is uh....I was sitting at home and....trying to think of what songs we were gonna, what I was gonna do when I came out on tour this time....knew I wanted to do something different....I gotta come out and sing a new song, that´s my job ....and uh, I was thinking of the stuff that we were gonna do and over the past couple of years I´d sat around in my room and I´d played, this is an old song, I wrote about 15 years ago....and uh....guess I was 24 years old, I was sitting on the end of my bed in Long Branch, New Jersey...and uh....thinking about it now it surprises me how much I knew about my life then....the questions that I asked myself in this song, I guess I´ve been spending the last 15 years trying to....figure out their answers....and uh....when I was wrote this song I guess I thought I was writing about a guy and a girl who wanted to run and keep on running, never come back....it was a, it was a nice romantic idea, you know (chuckles)...but as I got older, I realised that....I wanted to know ´Well, where were they going ? where were, what were they running from and where were they running to ?´.... and as I sang this song over the years, I realised that what they were doing was they were out there searching for someplace that they could call ´home´....and that in the end home really wasn´t out there but that it was buried deep inside of me somewhere....and if you´re lucky, you find it and if you´re even luckier, I guess you learn how to hold on to it....so.... it´s a lot to do....anyway, I guess I sang this song the first time I came through these parts ....you know....at the old Armadillo (chuckles)....you know....so this song has, uh, covered a lot of miles since then and it´s kept me good company on my search, I hope it´s kept you good company on your search....so I´d like to do it for you tonight and dedicate it to you, wishing that you may find whatever you´re looking for....”
 * 15.04.88 Austin, TX, intro to ´Born to Run´**

´´It is now time to answer the burning questions of the evening....does the hero get the girl ?....does her mama come down and put a stop to it ?...does her daddy come down and wring his neck ?...does he end up broke, busted and disgusted ?....the answer to these and other mysteries will now be revealed....”
 * 15.04.88 Austin, TX, intro to ´Rosalita´**

´´That´s not the end of the story....they drove on down the road, they found a little bar, they went in to get a couple of beers, there was a little band on the bandstand and the band leader said ´A one, two, three, four´....”
 * 15.04.88 Austin, TX, intro to ´Detroit Medley´**

//Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi//